Top 10 Most Notorious Scam Artists EVER
#10: Wolfgang Beltracchi
Dubbed the “forger of the century”, German painter Wolfgang Beltracchi fooled the art world for years. Over four decades, Beltracchi produced hundreds of counterfeit paintings, selling them to collectors for millions with the help of his wife Helene. At one point, one of his forgeries even hung in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. After specialists cottoned on, Beltracchi and his wife did jail time, but ironically, the scandal catapulted Beltracchi into fame, and he now makes a fortune painting original works.
#9: Big Bertha Heyman
Infamous in her day, Bertha Heyman, a.k.a. “the Confidence Queen”, flimflammed victims out of thousands. Born in Prussia, Big Bertha posed as a woman of wealth in the US, convincing men to lend her money with the promise of bigger rewards. In one brazen scheme, she obtained an advance from brokers on “securities” that were actually worthless papers in a sealed package. When interrogated by police, the glib Bertha boasted she ran her scams for “intellectual pride” rather than profit - the smarter the mark, the bigger the thrill.
#8: Han van Meegeren
This Dutch painter went from artistic frustration to criminal trial to national hero. Failing to find success as an original painter, Dutch painter Han van Meegeren resolved to prove hostile critics wrong by forging paintings by famous artists. His ploy worked: critics loved his mock masterpieces, which sold for today’s equivalent of $30 million. The truth came out when van Meegeren was arrested for selling a Vermeer to Nazi Hermann Göring. Revealing the painting was a fake, he was let off with a slap on the wrist, and celebrated for duping the Nazis.
#7: Victor Lustig
The historic conman is remembered as the “man who sold the Eiffel Tower”. Enterprising crook Victor Lustig started his criminal career selling fake money making machines on cruise ships, but then set his sights on taller targets. Posing as a French government minister, he successfully sold the Eiffel Tower to a naive scrap metal dealer, who probably should have listened to his suspicious wife. Audaciously, Lustig returned to pull the same scheme a second time, but was forced to flee when his mark told the police.
#6: George Parker
The Eiffel Tower isn’t the only iconic structure that’s been “sold” off. Professional trickster George Parker claimed to have sold the Brooklyn Bridge twice a week for years. He would set up a fake office and target credulous immigrants, many of whom then tried to put up toll booths on the bridge. But Parker didn’t stop there. He also sold the Met, Grant’s Tomb, and the Statue of Liberty. His scheme lives on in the expression: “and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.”
#5: Charles Deville Wells
Best known as “the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo”, this English gambler and fraudster pioneered the Ponzi scheme before Ponzi. Setting up a private bank in Paris, Wells paid impressive returns to clients from new investments - robbing Peter to pay Paul. He then fled back to Britain with the cash. He achieved fame for breaking the bank at Monte Carlo Casino not once, but several times - a feat he attributed to a secret method that likely involved cheating.
#4: Gregor MacGregor
When it comes to shameless schemes, Gregor MacGregor’s “Poyais” scam is hard to beat. After returning from war in the New World, the Scottish general claimed he had been made ruler of a fictional Central American country “Poyais”, and sold land certificates to hundreds of investors. He even created a detailed guidebook and fake currency. Sadly, this was far from being a victimless crime. He kept up the lie until the bitter end, resulting in hundreds of hopeful settlers travelling to the imaginary territory; where many died from diseases in the jungle. Meanwhile, MacGregor got away scot-free.
#3: Bernard Madoff
From millionaire stockbroker. . . to life in prison. That’s the story of “Bernie” Madoff, mastermind behind one of the largest financial scams of all time. For decades, Madoff operated a Ponzi scheme of unprecedented proportions, into which unwitting investors poured billions. It was his sons who finally lifted the lid on the scam, after Madoff broke down and confessed the truth to his family. Many investors lost millions; son Mark Madoff took his own life; and “Bernie” Madoff was sentenced to 150 years behind bars.
#2: Frank Abagnale
At 16, most of us have enough on our plate with high school. Frank Abagnale was posing as an airline pilot, flying around the world. He had started his scams early, printing fake cheques as a teenager, and went on to visit 26 countries as an imposter on Pan Am planes. He later posed as a pediatrician at a hospital for almost a full year. Charming and persuasive, Abagnale could talk his way out of any situation . . . and after capture, several escapes, and a reduced prison sentence, now works as a security consultant.
Before we reveal the identity of our top pick, here are some dishonorable mentions:
Rudy Kurniawan [aka Dr. Conti]
This Fraudster Made Millions Fooling Connoisseurs with Cheap Wine Disguised as the World’s Finest
Joseph "Yellow Kid" Weil
An Infamous Con-Man Who Sold Talking Dogs, Land He Didn’t Own, & Even Managed to Swindle Benito Mussolini
Aurora Florentina Magnusson a.k.a. Helga de la Brache
Born a Pauper, She Convinced the Swedish Royal Family She Was Really a Princess
#1: Charles Ponzi
He arrived in Boston with a few dollars to his name. But Charles Ponzi, who had set out from Italy to make it rich, would go on to become a multimillionaire... for a time. Ponzi’s initial plan was to trade in international postal coupons from Europe, which could be redeemed in the US at a higher value. He attracted enough investors to rake in millions… until it was revealed he was just paying them returns from new investors. Prison didn’t teach him much; he later sold swampland in Florida, and called his scheme a great show easily worth the price.
